Welcome to the grainy lumo violet-electro-turquoise-plum Tokyo dreamscape future-retro robo synth pop world of Killian Eng, Stockholm based mad graphic scientist and musical cook. Killian’s genius somehow manages to take one on a surreal journey into a future version of the 80’s. Killian illustrates under the alias DW Design and is a member of DW, a musical duo aptly described as “Hip-pop-house through pink italo shades”. Kilian is also doing another project where you can hear him on a vocoder - Tropical Silence. Genius.

Mad cool! These images are from the upcoming book PULP, a collaboration between supermodel Joni Harbeck and photographer Neil Krug. More here and here.

Sooooooo ill! Spotted on Typetheory More brilliance from Barış here.

Zanis Waldheims, born 1909 (Latvia) produced these beautiful geometric abstractions in the 60’s. Much more on Yves Jeanson’s Flickr stream, who also compiled this concise bio on Waldheims.

Update: Very interesting story unfolding as Zanis’s grandson uncovers the man’s life here.

Since seeing these amazing prints by Mikey Burton I’m dying for an opportunity to mess about on an old letterpress setup. I absolutely love the authentic human feel of letterpress work, the way type ‘bites’ into the paper giving it a 3 dimensional quality, the imperfections of the fading ink and imprecise colour (mixed by eye). In a virtual (on-screen) modern world the physicality of letterpress is truly refreshing. Here are some images of a press setup, from OldTimeyDave’s Flickr page:

LizoidKing

MothKing

MechaKing

ApeKing

OMG! These have got to be the most stupendiously sick footwear garments I’ve ever seen! If you reference the word ‘ridiculously supreme-radical awesomeness’ in the dictionary, this is what you’ll see.

Puma released The Terror King pack to commemorate classic Japanese monster movies from the 1950 - 1970’s. Each shoe style brings an iconic monster to life, highlighting its signature features with various fabrics and textures. As can be expected, these puppies come with a hefty price tag - R2 700 (+/- $270). Locally available from a store.

We were asked to pitch on the Auto Trader website redesign, which was a kinda last minute thing. We literally had about 48hours to put something together. Captain Clint Bryce is a master at presentations, so naturally it ended up being pretty solid. This is a quick and dirty mockup I hammered out for the pitch. Its not really thoroughly thought through, merely aimed at showcasing some of the basic improvements that can be expected.

Some principles we touched on: Usability - bringing key functions right into the immediate  experience - i.e. quick search, quick links, search by type and making the distinction between the user journeys of a) the buyer, and b) the seller. I’ve also provided for IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) standards compliant ad space.

We are starting to scratch the surface of psychological concepts like the relationship between aesthetics and cognition, based on patterns and experiences. For example, what does color suggest? (e.g. the green ‘Search’ button) Green is good, green is for go, red is bad, right? An object’s affordance is the actions and functions its appearance suggests, a concept extensively incorporated in more mature design industries like Industrial Design. One of my favourite design icons, Dieter Rams, former Braun Product Design Chief puts it thus: “Good design makes a product useful. Good design helps us to understand a product.”

Alistapart published this brilliant article, exploring the concept in much greater depth. Fascinating stuff!

We’ve just completed the first phase of the Adidas Virtual Run Club Website. Clint summed it up perfectly:

The idea is so simple you’re going to wonder why it hasn’t been done before: a virtual run club.

Imagine running whenever it suited you and at your own pace … but still enjoy the motivation you get from comparing your performance with others. You can now. With the soon-to-launch Adidas Virtual Run Club.

How it Works
It’s very simple. All you need to do is (a) join a club, (b) start your own … or (c) run alone. Then upload your distance and time after each run.

Join a Club: Browse from the existing list and decide on one that appeals to you. The Club does not necessarily have to be in your area. You may join as many clubs as you wish and at any time. Each time you upload a run, the information will be added to the group distance, time and pace statistics of all the Clubs you belong to.

Start a Club: Decide on a name for your Club and add a short description. It will then be added to the list for other Run Club members to browse and join. If you have family and friends that also enjoy running we suggest you notify them and ask them to become members. Each time you capture a run it will be added to your club total.

Run Alone: Each run you upload will be added to you personal overall total. No other Run Club member’s will have access to your personal performance data. Although, you will not be able to compare your own performance against those of the group, which is a pity, because the real benefit lies in comparing performance.

The Virtual Run Club let’s you run your way and still be part of the team.

Hit the road. Then share it.

We opted to develop the Website in good ol’ HTML and classic ASP due to time and resource constraints. To make up for the lack of all things Flash, I’ve used jQuery to rotate and fade in backgrounds, customise scrollbars, animate user prompts, alerts and product features.

Unique to the execution of this project is the use of ‘first-person’ language (statements like “Because I run my way”) and POV photography, as stipulated by the ‘Adidas Running’ Style Guide.

Phase two of the project focuses on the mobile-enabled version. All and all this was a fun project to work on, I’m looking forward to using it myself!